The two quickly arrived at their destination. Wang Bin performed a series of operations on his tablet, quickly seizing control of the surrounding surveillance cameras and scrolling through the previous footage.
Li Qing rested his hand on his waist, his gaze scanning the surroundings.
"This bar is where the movement routes of those four overlap. They've all been here."
Wang Bin pointed at a bar on the surveillance screen, his voice decisive.
"If we just walk in and ask questions, we might alert the target. Should we go in disguise?"
"Yeah."
The two returned to the car to change into plain clothes and walked toward the bar with an air of confidence.
Creeeak.
The bar was dilapidated; it looked like the door hadn't been oiled in ages.
As soon as they entered, they were hit by the smell of sweat mixed with tobacco and alcohol.
Wang Bin frowned slightly, while Li Qing seemed more at ease. He stepped up to the counter.
"A Negroni."
"Certainly, sir."
The bartender replied and began mixing the drink with practiced skill.
Li Qing raised an eyebrow at the sight. Despite the bar's run-down appearance, the bartender's technique was professional.
Before long, a cocktail was pushed in front of Li Qing.
Li Qing opened his wallet, took out a hundred-yuan bill, and handed it over.
"Keep the change as a tip."
The bartender's smile instantly became more sincere as he tucked the bill away.
"Is there something you'd like to ask, gentlemen?"
Wang Bin and Li Qing both froze, looking at the bartender in surprise.
They saw the bartender and the surrounding patrons staring at them with knowing smirks.
"Coming to a bar first thing in the morning, two people ordering a single drink, and giving a generous tip..."
"I've seen many customers like you. Most of them are undercover or plainclothes officers trying to dig up information from me."
"Of all of them, your posture is the most textbook. You must have won plenty of awards back at the academy, right?"
"Let's get one thing straight: the drink was seventy-nine. A twenty-one-yuan tip isn't going to buy you any complicated answers."
Li Qing laughed upon hearing this. He opened his wallet and pulled out a gold note.
The eyes of the bartender and the patrons lit up instantly. But just as Li Qing was about to hand over the gold note, Wang Bin grabbed his wrist.
"Haven't you realized yet? He's a Sequence 6 Ghost Messenger of the Corpse Bearer pathway!"
"Huh?"
Li Qing recoiled instantly, reaching for his waist where his Security Bureau-issued pistol was holstered.
The moment his hand touched the grip, the patrons stood up one after another, leveling their weapons at the two.
Li Qing was holding a handgun, but the patrons were armed with weapons whose smallest caliber was a double-barreled shotgun!
Wang Bin's expression was stiff.
When the bartender had laughed earlier, the people around him had followed suit.
Wang Bin had felt something was off then.
Although the patrons varied in age and appearance, their smiles were identical!
The sheer eeriness made his skin crawl, so he began to observe the details.
Although the bar's lighting was dim, it was enough for him to see clearly.
For instance, their inelastic muscles, their cloudy eyes, and the alcohol that they couldn't actually swallow!
Everything pointed to the fact that these so-called patrons weren't human at all, but living corpses!
And the only one capable of this, aside from a transcendent item, was a Sequence 7 Gravedigger of the Corpse Bearer pathway!
But even a Gravedigger could only control five or six living corpses at most.
There were more than twenty in this bar.
That was why Wang Bin had identified the man as a Ghost Messenger!
Cold sweat beaded on Li Qing's forehead, but he didn't dare wipe it away, or even blink.
Seeing this, the bartender smiled and took a sip of the Negroni.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're here looking for Liu Du and his crew?"
Wang Bin steadied his breathing, stepped forward, and sat on a stool.
"That's right. What do you know?"
The bartender took another sip, then shook his head.
"I don't know much about them. That group of human traffickers used to follow Wang Zheng and Liu He around."
"I heard a while back that Wang Zheng and Liu He went missing. They still had a few kids they hadn't sold yet, and they were frantic."
"But starting from the day before yesterday, it's like those people vanished. They haven't been back to the bar since."
Wang Bin raised an eyebrow. He was certainly familiar with the names Wang Zheng and Liu He.
After all, the organ trafficking case from a while back had caused quite a stir, and those two were the biggest buyers involved!
"You're saying Liu Du and the others are also human traffickers?"
"Hmm? You didn't know?"
It was the bartender's turn to be curious. He gave Wang Bin a surprised look, then indifferently held out his hand.
"That's all I know."
Wang Bin narrowed his eyes. He stepped over to Li Qing, snatched the gold note from his hand, and handed it to the bartender.
"Do you know where they went in the end?"
The bartender took the gold note and smoothed out the creases with his fingers.
"No idea. But I can give you one piece of information for free."
"What?"
"They're all dead."
"All of them?"
"Yeah. Liu Du, Wang Zheng—all of them are dead."
"How do you know?"
The bartender drained the rest of the Negroni and laughed.
"In this world, is there anyone who understands death better than us Ghost Messengers?"
He waved a hand as he spoke, and the living corpses lowered their guns. Li Qing finally let out a breath of relief.
Wang Bin did the same, turning to walk toward the bar's entrance.
Just as they were about to touch the door handle, the door creaked open again. A well-built young man carrying a bouquet of fresh flowers walked in.
"Hello, is this the Blue Mood Bar? Is the owner here?"
The bartender was washing a glass. He looked up curiously.
"That's me. What is it?"
"Oh, it's like this. A gentleman named Liu Du ordered a bouquet of flowers from my shop for you. He specifically asked me to deliver them three days later at nine in the morning, saying you'd understand once you saw them."
The youth had already walked up to the bar as he spoke. He placed the flowers on the counter and took out a small notebook.
"Please sign for it."
At the mention of Liu Du's name, Wang Bin and Li Qing both froze in their tracks.
The owner casually signed his name in the small notebook, then glanced at the bouquet.
"Just a bouquet? Nothing else?"
The youth shook his head.
"That's it. That's all Mr. Liu Du said. However, I have one thing to tell you."
"Yeah?"
"Don't just sign things for strangers."
Those words made the hair on the bartender's body stand on end.
Boom!
A mass of flames instantly erupted from the bartender!
【Self-Immolation Application】!
A one-time-use transcendent item that can be activated within ten meters of the signer.
This was one of the treasures Yin Yang had bought back in Wanwu City. This single-use item alone had cost him fifteen gold notes!
At the time, the shopkeeper had pounded his chest and guaranteed that even a Demigod would be left howling from the burns.
Looking at it now, the effect was excellent.
"Aaaaah!!!"
The bartender screamed, becoming a human torch.
The surrounding living corpses also began to scream, and in the next moment, they started pulling their triggers frantically.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
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